John Mans and Andi Lucas

John Mans was raised in a small Rocky Mountain mining town and is currently based in Boulder, Colorado. As one of the first graduates from the newly established Film Program at the University of Colorado in 1985, John spent more than a decade working in the camera departments of serialized television before making the decision to pursue his passion for the outdoors and adventure. Around this same time, he invented the first clamping French flag and the FlexiMount microphone mount. Designed to deal with the on-set challenges on exactly the types of shoots John was now working on (fast paced filming in rugged environments and difficult conditions) these products were sold through a handful of specialty camera stores in LA while John pursued his career as a Director of Photography.

In 2009 Andi Lucas began working with John on a variety of other film related projects and through that collaboration became aware of the camera accessories line. With a diverse professional background in restaurants, venue operations, event management and the financial sector, it quickly became apparent to Andi that the line of specialty accessories John had been selling for over a decade had fantastic applications for the new styles of camera equipment on the market, specifically the exploding action camera market and the move to shooting on DSLRs. Coming on-board in the role of Chief Operations Officer in 2010, Andi worked with John on taking the Dinkum Systems line to the next level, with over a year spent in R&D making improvements to existing designs, creating new products and engineering and tooling specific parts. Since the official launch of the full line in 2012, Dinkum Systems is rapidly expanding its US-based dealer network and now distributes internationally.